Count the ribs

Mighty pork ribs grow a fetish for coffee

Perk up with pork: Barbecued pork ribs at Yum Yum tree. Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Pork ribs boast a dedicated following. The ribs taken from the sides are blanched in a mixture of spices and then uplifted with an exotic coffee bath. A bed of star anise and cinnamon stick bring in the spice value, while the dark and light soya sauce and wine elevate the spare ribs to a different level. Drowned in a pool of coffee sauce, pork ribs too aspire to be an addiction.

Barbecued spare ribs

Ingredients

4 big pieces of pork ribs

50 gm star anise

50 gm cinnamon stick

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp garlic

70 gm sugar

2 tbsp dark soya sauce

1 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp ginger

1 tbsp cooking wine

1 gm five spices powder

5 cup water

Method

Cut the ribs into individual pieces with bones. Saute the ribs in oil with star anise, cinnamon stick, garlic, ginger, sugar, light and dark soya sauce, cooking wine and five spices powder. Then boil the ribs on slow fire for two to three hours till the meat is tender.

Once cooked, separate the ribs from the sauce.

Dust the ribs in potato starch and deep fry till light brown.

Preparation of coffee sauce

30 gm sugar

2 gm coffee powder

2 tbsp apple jam

3 tbsp tomato puree

1 gm salt

Mix them in half a cup of water. Coat the ribs in coffee sauce and garnish with spring onions. Serve.

It is in tossing up Chinese specialities that Sandup Lepcha, Executive Chef at Yum Yum Tree, comes into his own. It has been about watching, learning and mastering for Lepcha as he scooped in details observing masters from the region at work.